Piston valve for wind instruments



Sept. 1,1931. R. B. ow 132L397 PISTON VALVE FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS Filed'iiarch 26, 1930 Patented Sept. 1, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEREGINALD B. OLDS, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO F. E. OLDS &SON, INCL, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIAPISTON VALVE FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS Application filed March 26, 1930.Serial No. 439,097.

My invention relates to a piston valve construction and mounting of suchvalve in a wind musical instrument.

A feature of my invention relates prefer- '5 ably to the mounting of thespring for retracting the piston into its outer-most position afterdepression of the keys; the mounting of the piston to prevent rotationwhereby the ports through the piston are maintained in proper alignmentwith the tubes of the musical instrument; and also an arrangement forproperly centering the piston to prevent this from being displacedlaterally, particularly the guide structure for the stem connecting thekeys to the piston.

I utilize a valve casing with a piston there in of a standard type. Thispiston having ports therethrough to register with the tubes of themusical instrument. Connecting with the valve casing at the top Iutilize a tubular ballister of the standard type. However myconstruction departs from the standard in having an enlarged barrelsecured to the upper part of the piston, and the stem for operating thepiston is connected to the upper part of the barrel and operates througha cap in the ballister, the key being attached to the top of the stem.In order to prevent the piston from rotating and forming an incorrectguide, the barrel is provided with a longitudinal slot through whichextends a pin. This pin is screw-threaded into a ring which is itselfslidable on the barrel and this ring has a lug thereon which is engagedin a recess in the valve casing. A compression spring having a largenumber of coils and large diameter pins on the ring at one end thereon,an enlarged head on the barrel thus always maintaining the ring seatedagainst the upper edge of the valve casing inside of the ballister andwith the lug through which the pin is connected seated in the recess inthe valve casing.

My invention is illustrated in connection with the accompanyingillustrations in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a conventional trumpet,

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through one of the piston valves taken onthe line 2-2 of F ig. 1 in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 3 is an elevation taken in the direction 3 of Fig. 2 with part ofthe ballister in section,

Fig. 1 is an elevation showing part of the piston valve, the barrel,spring and other details.

In Fig. 1 I illustrate a conventional trumpet designated by the numeral11 which trumpet has a series of piston valves 12, each of these valvesis generally of the same construction. They have a valve casing 13 withvarious tubes 14; leading to the casing. Connected to the upper part ofthe casing there is a tubular ballister 15, which ballister has aclosure cap 16 screw-threaded thereon with a tubular guide-neck 17 abovethe cap.

The piston 18 is provided with a series of ports 19 extendingtherethrough to register with the different tubes of the instrument.Above the piston, there is a barrel 20 having a head 21 screw-threadedthereon. This head has an extended flange 22. Stem 23 extends upwardlyfrom the head through the guideneck 17 and has a key 2% thereon. Thereis a closure 25 at the lower end or the barrel closing this off from thehollow space in the interior of the piston.

To prevent rotation oi the piston the barrel is provided with a pair oflongitudinal slots 26 through which extends screwthreaded pin 27, whichpin extends through a ring 28. This ring has a cylindrical section 29and a flange section 30 extending outwardly therefrom and on one side ofthe ring there is a lug 31. The pin is screwthreaded into this lug, thehead 32 of the pin fitting against the cylindrical section 29 of thering. The flange of the ring is adapted to bear on the upper edge 33 ofthe valve casing and this casing has a recess 34: to accommodate the lug31. A horizontal spring 35 with a large number of coils and ofrelatively large diameter has its lower end hearing on the upper part ofthe ring and its upper end engaging the flange 22 of the head 21. Abovethe head there is the usual cork bufier 36 with a felt pad 87 to engagethe under side of the cap 16.

In operation of the piston valve due to depression of the keys it willbe seen that the ring 28 on account of being constantly presseddownwardly towards the valve casing by the spring 35 that the lug 31 isalways maintained in the recess Therefore as the ring cannot rotate, thepin 27 is held from rotation and this pin operating in the slots 29through the barrel prevents rotation of the barrel and hence of thepiston. The spring is of relatively large diameter being substantiallyas large as the interior of the ballister will allow and this isprovided with a large number of terms of coils. Therefore thecompressing action due to a pressure on the keys compresses the springevenly and the spring is not over-taxed the pressure required to depressthe key is substantially uniform for the full stroke of the piston andthe react-ion of the piston gives a smooth motion of the pistonoutwardly e rting substantially a constant pressure against the playerslinger when operating the keys.

The key 2-l is provided with the usual interior pad which engages theupper part of the neck 17 thus forming a stop or limit on inwardmovement of the piston.

I claim:

1. A musical instrument having a valve casing with a tubular ballisterconnected thereto, and a cap on the ballister, a piston slidable in thecasing, a barrel connected to the piston, a stem attached to the upperend of the barrel and sliding through an opening in the cap with a keyat the upper end of the stem, a ring on the barrel. engaging the upperend of the casing, a spring coiled on the barrel and interconnecting theupper end of the barrel and the ring, and means to prevent rotation ofthe barrel and piston.

2. A musical instrument having a valve casing, a tubular ballisterconnected thereto, a cap on the upper end of the ballister, said caphaving a guide-neck, a piston in the casing, a barrel connected to thepiston, a stem connected to the barrel and sliding through said neck,with a key on the upper end of the stem, a spring coiled on the barrel,means interconnecting the spring to one end of the barrel and to thevalve casing, the barrel having a slot with a pin extendingtherethrough, and means to prevent the pin from rotation.

3. A musical instrument having a valve casing, a tubular ballisterconnected thereto, a cap on the ballister having a guide-neck, a pistonin the casing, a barrel connected thereto having a stem at its upper endsliding through the said neck, with a key on the stem, a ring on thebarrel having a portion to engage the valve casing, a spring coiled onthe barrel and having means to engage one end of the barrel and the saidring, means to prevent rotation of the barrel.

4. A musical instrument having a valve casing, a tubular ballisterconnected thereto,

a cap on the ballister having a guide-neck, a piston in the casing, abarrel connected thereto having a stem at its upper end sliding throughthe said neck, with a key on the stem, a ring on the barrel having aportion to en 'age the valve casing, a spring coiled on the barrel andhaving means to engage one end of the barrel and the said ring, means toprevent rotation of the barrel comprising slots in the barrel, a pin inthe ring extending through said slots and means to prevent rotation ofthe ring.

5. A musical instrument having a valve casing, a tubular ballisterconnected thereto with a cap on the ballister having a guideneck, apiston slidable in the casing, a tubular barrel connected thereto havinga slot therethrough, a stem connected to the barrel and sliding throughthe neck with a key at the upper end of the stem, a ring on the barrelhaving a pin therethrough engaging in the said slot, the ring engagingthe upper end of the casing, a spring coiled on the barrel and extendingbetween the upper end of the barrel and the ring, the said ring having alug there being recesses in the casing in which the said lug fits.

6. A musical instrument having a tubular valve casing, a tubularballister connected thereto with a cap having a guide-neck, a pistonslidable in the casing, a barrel connected to the piston having a headattached thereto, a stem extending from the head and sliding through thesaid neck with a key on the upper end of the stem, a ring surroundingthe barrel and having a flange to engage the valve casing there being aslot in the barrel with a pin through the ring engaging the said slot, aspring between the head and the ring coiled on the barrel and means toprevent rotation of the ring.

7. A musical instrument having a tubular valve casing, a tubularballister connected thereto with a cap having a guide-neck, a pistonslidable in the casing, a barrel connected to the piston havin a headattached thereto, a stem extending from the head and sliding through thesaid neck with a key on the upper end of the stem, a ring surroundingthe barrel and having a flange to engage the valve casing there being aslot in the barrel with a pin through the ring engaging the said slot, aspring between the head and the ring coiled on the barrel, and means toprevent rotation of the ring comprising a lug on the ring, there being arecess in the casing with the lug tted therein, and one end of the pinbeing threaded to the said lug.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

R. B. OLDS.

